Wednesday, November 9, 2011

College Football Week 10 Review

(Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
Trent Richardson and Alabama couldn't get the offense to produce last Saturday against
top ranked LSU. The Crimson Tide lost to LSU 9-6 in OT

This past week in college football, seven teams in the Top 25 lost, but only three of the losses were upsets. (2) Alabama lost to (1) LSU, (9) South Carolina lost to (7) Arkansas, (10) Nebraska lost to Northwestern, (14) Kansas State lost to (3) Oklahoma State, (15) Michigan lost to Iowa, (19) Arizona State lost to UCLA, and (24) West Virginia lost to Louisville.

Top Three Performances by Team or Player:
1. Georgia QB Aaron Murray- Murray threw for 238 passing yards and five touchdowns in a 63-16 blowout against New Mexico State. Murray and the Bulldogs were able to score 42 points in the second quarter alone, and are now 7-0 after starting the season off 0-2.
2. Wisconsin RB Montee Ball- Ball rushed for 235 yards and three touchdowns as Wisconsin defeated Purdue, snapping their two game losing streak. Ball's 21 rushing touchdowns are the most in the country.
3. USC QB Matt Barkley- The Trojan quarterback threw for 318 yards and six touchdowns in a big win last Friday against Colorado. Barkley and the Trojans bounced back after a heartbreaking loss to Stanford at home. USC won't be playing in a bowl this year, but the team is certainly looking strong.

Top Three Disappointments by Player or Team:
1. Alabama Kickers- The two place kickers for the Crimson Tide combined to kick 2/6 on field goal attempts. Even more disappointing is that Alabama lost at home 9-6 in OT to top ranked LSU. If just one of those field goals went in, it would have been a completely different game.
2. Denard Robinson- Robinson and Michigan lost last week to Iowa, as Shoelace threw for under 200 yards, two touchdowns, and an interception. This year, Robinson has not created the spark that the nation was talking about all of last year. he dropped from the Heisman race early, and has not had success throwing the ball this season.
3. Big East Football- In the most recent rankings, the Big East has only one ranked team, which entered the Top 25 this week, and is only ranked 23rd in the country. The conference is also losing a few teams in the year or so, and has decided to invite a few teams from the Mountain Time Zone. Time for a conference name change.

Game of the Week:

This week's "Game of the Week" was actually dubbed the "Game of the Century" by many media posts. The battle between LSU and Alabama was a defensive showdown as no touchdowns were scored. Both quarterback's struggled throwing the ball as Jordan Jefferson threw for 67 yards and AJ McCarron only threw for 199 yards. The stat of the game has to be Alabama's 2/6 on field goal attempts which clearly lost them the game. Overall, the game was a letdown after the huge media hype. Trent Richardson didn't show off his Heisman hopeful abilities, and no star power really stood out. The BCS better not fail again, and allow these two teams to play in the Natinoal Championship Game.
Next Week's Five Intriguing Matchups:
1. (4) Stanford vs. (7) Oregon- If Oregon pulls off this "upset" it will make up for their Week One loss against LSU. Can Heisman frontrunner Andrew Luck lead his team to victory and possibly jump some teams in next week's rankings?
2. (5) Boise State vs. TCU- Well, if this game was played last year it would be huge headlines, but this season not so much. TCU is unranked but is 7-2 this season and looking to make a late season push. Boise doesn't get the chance much to play tough teams, so this is probably their last test of the regular season.
3. (12) Penn State vs. (19) Nebraska- With all the controversy going on at Penn State, it will be interesting to see how the Nittany Lions play, and how Joe Pa finishes out his last season as head coach.
4. (10) Virgina Tech vs. (21) Georgia Tech- The Hokies have slowly climbed their way into the Top 10 and now face their second ranked team of the season when they play Georgia Tech.
5. (15) Georgia vs. (20) Auburn- Georgia is on a roll since starting off the season 0-2. Can they keep their streak alive and knock of Auburn at home?